Surgical staples allow a surgeon to hold together body tissue. Staples may be applied singularly or in a series depending upon the length of tissue to be held together. Some staples are designed to be applied to the surface of skin. These types of staples are easily accessible and removable. Staples have also been designed to hold internal tissues. These staples are often made of inert metals which are stapled within the body or of dissolvable materials such as magnesium or non-metallic resinous material which are gradually absorbed by the body.
Metal staples are typically bent or crimped to hold the tissue to which they are applied. These staples however are difficult to uncrimp and remove. Metallic staples also cause X-rays to scatter causing a degradation of the resulting X-ray photograph.
Resinous materials are typically resilient which prevents them from being crimped. Hence, these types of staples are typically comprised of a fastener member with two prongs and a retainer member, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,534,350. The prongs of the fastener member are driven into one side of the tissue to be held and the retainer member interlocks with the prongs protruding from the other side of the tissue to hold the staple in place. Once the fastener is interlocked however it cannot be unlocked. Therefore, should the tissue not be properly stapled it must undergo a revision wherein the stapled portion of the tissue is cut and removed and then restapled. This obviously causes additional damage to the tissue and lengthens the time of the surgical procedure.
Accordingly, it is seen that a need remains for a surgical staple which may be easily removed. It is to the provision of such therefore that the present invention is primarily directed.